Organisation: Corrin

Cattle marts report: Quality stock fetching good prices, but plain animals are struggling

Unlike the jails of Rio, where I hear the water is scarce (the taps only run for a couple of minutes every day), our farms this week have seen plenty of the watery stuff.

Thu, 25 Aug, 2016

Plainer cattle are taking more hits than Foreman versus Ali

“Oh man,” said the late great Muhammad Ali when he found George Foreman fading fast in the eighth round of their thrilling Rumble in the Jungle encounter, “This is the wrong place for you to get tired.”

Thu, 09 Jun, 2016

Cattle marts report: Cattle are selling well despite grass and money drying up in farming circles

Thank God summer has finally arrived. I thought for a while that it would never get here. But it has.

Thu, 05 May, 2016

Cattle marts report: Small beef farmer is the fall guy as buyers focus on large animals

As you well know at this stage, I’m a glass half full man, rather than a glass half empty. Indeed so long as I have any drink at all, I’m happy.

Thu, 14 Apr, 2016

Cattle marts report: Cattle trade back to being an ‘adult only’ business as scholars return to their desks

There is a real sense of getting down to business at the marts this week. With the schools reopening after the Easter break, cattle marts are back to an adult-only audience.

Thu, 07 Apr, 2016

Cattle marts: Demand for cattle with overcoats as farmers brave rainfall to attend busy marts

On our farms right now many cattle are spending a good deal of their day backed up against a sheltered ditch.

Thu, 31 Mar, 2016

Sheep farmers watchful as prices tapering off

The sheep trade at the factories is steady at unchanged prices this week with the upward pace of recent weeks appearing to have tapered off.

Thu, 25 Feb, 2016

Cattle marts deliver strong prices despite weather conditions

The biggest threat to the cattle trade at the present moment will come from the sky. And I’m not talking about Kim Jong-un and his rockets. I’m referring to the weather.

Thu, 11 Feb, 2016

Agri events

Agri events this week.

Thu, 14 Jan, 2016

Calf trade started off flying high with up to €510 paid at Bandon last Monday

2015 was the year of the mart.

Thu, 07 Jan, 2016

Mood dampened by heavy rain, low sales and basic payment’s failure to land on time

Call it the Basic Payment Scheme, call it the Single Payment Scheme — call it what you like — but there hasn’t been sight nor sound of the thing on this farm as Wednesday, November 11, dawns.

Thu, 12 Nov, 2015

Cattle marts report: Peace and Tranquility reign as fine weather keeps the trade buoyant in the marts

I went to Corrin Mart on Tuesday, not only to check out the livestock, but also to look at a bit of farmland that has suddenly come onto the market.

Thu, 15 Oct, 2015

Cattle marts report: Seller still in the driver’s seat, despite large entries at marts

I think it’s fair to say that I can now add weather forecasting to my long list of talents, having correctly predicted three weeks ago that the Ploughing Championships in Laois would pass without a shower of rain spoiling the affair.

Thu, 01 Oct, 2015

House of the week: Hettyfield, Douglas €520,000

You just don’t get a handle on just what sort of Hettyfield home Corrin is from the outside. 

Sat, 12 Sep, 2015

Cattle marts report: Winners few and far between in beef farming and the new National Lottery

I see the National Lottery have added two more balls to the drum, thus making the likelihood of me ever playing the lottery game all the more remote.

Thu, 13 Aug, 2015

Cattle marts report: Good times for sellers but tough for buyers as every Friesian in the ring exceeds €2/kg

I had big plans for heading to Dungarvan mart on Monday. It has been a few weeks since I’ve touched down at the Waterford mart.

Thu, 02 Jul, 2015

Steady trade in cattle, it’s business as usual down at the marts as BSE scares subside

After the recent BSE scare, I figured this week there was really only one way of finding out how the marts were coping, and that was to take a few cattle to the mart myself.

Thu, 18 Jun, 2015

Cattle prices remain strong despite silage season creating time pressure for farmers

Silage is the name of the game this week and on Monday morning, as I drove along from Kilmichael to Kilmallock, the way seemed to be paved with nothing but cut swards of grass.

Thu, 11 Jun, 2015

Quality calves catch eye as farmers defy changeable weather to attend busy marts

I returned to Corrin mart on Tuesday as I can be very fond of the calves on offer there.

Thu, 04 Jun, 2015

Steady sales at marts despite farmers being busy making silage while the sun shines

I have to admit that I’m finding it increasingly difficult to be in any way negative about the mart trade these days.

Thu, 28 May, 2015

Calves holding their value well for this time of year as marts report steady trading

I was in Fermoy on Sunday at a sporting event and saw silage being made. I was back there on Tuesday, at Corrin mart, and you’d be half inclined to open a bale.

Thu, 21 May, 2015

Cattle marts report: Strong prices for dairy stock point to post-quota confidence in the milk sector

Everyone was busy in Corrin mart on Tuesday. It was a big mart with big prices, with 2,000 cattle and calves on offer.

Thu, 26 Mar, 2015

Mart sales flying high, and hopes reopening of US market could further boost prices

Before I begin this week’s mart report, I feel I must remind those involved in the business of buying store cattle that we are in the month of February, it’s not May.

Thu, 12 Feb, 2015

No bargains for those looking for calves to keep them busy around the yard

My back has been killing me since the start of the new year.

Thu, 08 Jan, 2015

Price rise of €30-50 a head seen at marts as buyers anticipate beef price improvement

Will the IFA protests outside the meat factory gates raise the price for the finished animal? Alas, my old crystal ball refuses to reveal any information. So your guess is as good as mine.

Thu, 13 Nov, 2014

Change in the weather knocks as much as €50 a head off heavy store prices

In the marts this week, there has been a weakening in the store trade.

Thu, 06 Nov, 2014

Trade in top spec animals stays steady as marts flourish in face of foul weather

The return to inclement weather over the past week has had little or no detrimental affect on the mart trade.

Thu, 30 Oct, 2014

The jingle of the single farm payment advance is loud and clear in the marts

The return to inclement weather over the past week has had little or no detrimental affect on the mart trade.

Thu, 23 Oct, 2014

Solid demand holds for quality animals, despite the distraction of events elsewhere

Some might question the wisdom of piecing together a mart report on this very eventful week.

Thu, 25 Sep, 2014

A week of highs and lows as marts are still feeling the effects of sweltering sunshine

I thought things were right bad in the beef farming world, until I heard the news regarding former media tycoon Tony O’Reilly.

Thu, 26 Jun, 2014

Solid sale trends point to welcome uplift in market

I mentioned last week that a lot of marts reported an increase in buyer numbers as men who’d been putting off buying returned ringside.

Thu, 15 Nov, 2012

So-called lesser cattle lose out in season of plenty

While it is easy to state the obvious — that cattle numbers have pushed on again from last week at marts across the country — a wise old hand said to me, “Yes, but so too have the number of men with the cheque books”.

Thu, 25 Oct, 2012

Sunshine or not, cattle prices are high in the mart

In the course of putting this week’s report together, I had one man from Cork say, “The sun is shining, grass is growing and cattle are dear,” — which just about sums up the mid-June trade across the country.

Thu, 14 Jun, 2012

Serious level of investment down at the marts

The mart trade over the last ten days has been dominated by men who need to buy cattle to graze grass.

Thu, 07 Jun, 2012

Price range wider than normal

MORE pressure on prices has been the general tone of the trade for lambs this week.

Thu, 24 Sep, 2009

Lamb price at new 2008 low

IT has been another crucifying week for lamb producers, with another hefty slice of their profit margins being eroded as prices slipped further down the scale.

Thu, 07 Aug, 2008